Fine Art Photography

Tag Archives: Polaroid

I’ve only recently reconnected with Polaroid cameras and film. I purchased a couple vintage cameras on ebay in the last year or two and I’ve been playing around with the 600 series instant film. I was unhappy to learn that Polaroid was shutting down their production of instant film. Now there’s an article at Christian Science Monitor‘s website about the demise of Polaroid‘s instant film lines with a twinkle of potential good news. Seems Ilford is considering taking up the manufacture of the instant films. There’s a site up dedicated to saving the film, too. I’m crossing my fingers…

We slept in late, then had a walk to breakfast down the road. We were practically the only people in the place for a while, a rarity at this little beach town. We had a nice breakfast, topped with slices of perfectly tasty orange and home-made strawberry jam for my wheat toast. I took a Northy-inspired photo of my full coffee cup, cream still swirling in the blackness. We walked lazily back to the hotel by the beachfront road. We held hands and stopped by these flowers and those to talk about how well everything grows over here. I spent some time taking pictures with the Polaroid 420 and the K1000 loaded with the Kodachrome 64. The Polaroids were the 667 and the K64 was the last of the roll. In our room, we read and read. Cathi’s napping now and I’ve finished my book. What next?

I ended up with two Polaroid 420 Land Cameras from ebay. I kept one and gave the other, along with a pack of film, to a friend. I shot my first pack of film, Polaroid 667, here a couple weeks ago. I concentrated mostly on people shots and I was pretty happy with the results. Out of a ten shot pack I ended up with a few good pictures. Three I lost were landscapes, done in full outdoor sun, and I suspect that I might have either a light leak in the 420 or the temperature might have been to cold for the film. Regardless, I’m pretty happy with the results. I ordered more Polaroid 667 (iso 3000) and it arrived today so I’ll be back to some Polaroids for my daily shots.

I also won a Polaroid 405 film back, used for larger format cameras, and I intend on making a pinhole Polaroid camera with that. I need to see what bits and pieces I have lying about in the garage that can be cobbled into a ‘pinholaroid’.

I liked the 420 so much that I placed bids on a Polaroid 450. This camera is a few steps up from the 420 in that it has Zeiss glass instead of the plastic lenses of the 420. If I win one of these bids, and the camera is in good shape, I’ll move to that camera for my Polaroid fun.

I found an old Polaroid Land Camera 420 on ebay tonight. It was a reasonable price, less than ten dollars, so I purchased it. What have I to lose? It’ll be fun to work in that format, a fun way to stir things up a little. I placed an order on amazon for some b/w film so I’ll be ready when it arrives…